The Best Summer Music Festivals of 2017

Festival season in all its outdoor-stage, endurance-testing glory is back.

Everyone associates summer music festivals with youthful abandon—an endless procession of sunburned twentysomethings in head-to-toe neon, downing their third drink before lunchtime. This year, however, the elders will rule. U2 is set to toast the 30th anniversary of their album Joshua Tree (yes, it's been 30 years, and yes, we're that old) at Bonnaroo in June. Tom Petty and his Heartbreakers will commemorate 40 years together with appearances at five different U.S. fests, and Monterey Pop will mark 50 years since it pioneered the modern music festival during the Summer of Love and provided the first major stage for Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. A new NYC event, Classic East, also debuts this summer with a six-pack of ‘70s legends, including The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, and Earth, Wind & Fire.

Credit (or blame) for this trend should go to the most successful of last year’s events, Desert Trip, which put a living pantheon of classic-rockers—including Dylan, The Stones, and Neil Young—on the same festival grounds normally occupied by the youthful Coachella.

Of course, less wizened artists will also headline summer fests, including Lorde and Frank Ocean (back with new and newish albums, respectively), haters of vowels The XX, and potential mayoral candidate Chance the Rapper. Only have time (or energy?) for one big outing? Here's a look at this summer’s best fests, from the best of Africa at Swaziland's under-appreciated Bushfire festival to perennial classics like Bonnaroo: